Qantas Young Socceroos Czeched in opener
The Qantas Young Socceroos suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of Czech Republic in their opening FIFA U-20 World Cup match in Egypt last night (this morning AEST).
The Qantas Young Socceroos suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of Czech Republic in their opening FIFA U-20 World Cup match in Egypt last night (this morning AEST).
Scoreless at the break, captain James Holland converted a stoppage time penalty after the Czechs netted two second half goals to secure the win in front of 15,634 at Port Said Stadium.
Australia had the first chance of the match when Jason Hoffman found space wide on the left after a Kofi Danning counter attack, but he blasted wide in the 13th minute.
Nine minutes later the Czechs put Australia to the test, with striker Jan Vosahlik-s deflected shot forcing Dean Bouzanis to backpedal and tip over the bar.
They had another chance in the 28th minute when Lukas Marecek blasted from just outside the area but luckily his shot was inches wide of the upright.
Mitch Nichols had a good chance in the 31st minute but he couldn-t connect cleanly.
The Qantas Young Socceroos brought on Sean Rooney for fellow striker Hoffman at half time but it was the Czechs who netted first.
Lukas Vacha fired in the free kick from the right and Michael Rabusic got his head to the ball and flicked it on to the back post and into the net via the upright in the 50th minute.
Seven minutes later Tom Oar hit a fierce left foot strike which forced keeper Tomas Vaclik to scramble but he did enough to keep it out of the net.
Tahj Minniecon and Chris Herd came on with 20 minutes left but they could do little when referee Marco Rodriguez awarded Czech a penalty and consequently handed Ryan McGowan a red card.
Substitute striker Tomas Pekhart converted from the spot in the 89th minute.
But the Qantas Young Socceroos earned a reprieve five minutes later when they were awarded a penalty for a shirt tug.
Holland-s first penalty was saved but the referee ordered a re-take, which the midfielder converted to earn the Qantas Young Socceroos a consolation.
Qantas Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen was disappointed post-match and said his team could perform much better.
“It was disappointing not only with the result but the performance because we didn-t reach the level that we should reach,-- Versleijen said.
“If you want to get results in a World Cup you have to play at a high level and we didn-t see that today.
“You can always pinpoint reasons and there-s a lot of expectations, not from outside but from the players themselves because everyone wants to get a big result and maybe that worked a bit against us, maybe we were nervous.
“But that aside, I know we can do much better and everybody knows we can do much better and that-s the positive coming out of it.
“The important thing now is to get a result against Costa Rica to have a chance of qualifying for the next round.--
The Qantas Young Socceroos take on Costa Rica on Wednesday (midnight Wednesday night AEST), who lost 5-0 to Brazil in the earlier Group E match at Port Said Stadium.
All Qantas Young Socceroos matches at the FIFA U-20 World Cup are being broadcast live and exclusive on SBS TV (see www.sbs.com.au for full broadcast details). ENDS
Match Details: Qantas Young Socceroos 1 (Holland 90+4 pen) Czech Republic 2 (Rabusic -50, Pekhart -89 pen) Sunday 27th September, 2009 Port Said Stadium, Egypt Crowd: 15,634 Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mex). Assistants: Jose Luis Camargo (Mex), Alberto Morin (Mex).
Qantas Young Socceroos line-up: 18. Dean Bouzanis (gk), 2. Daniel Mullen, 3. Luke DeVere, 4. Ryan McGowan, 5. Matthew Jurman, 6. James Holland (c), 16. Ben Kantarovski, 10. Mitch Nichols (13. Chris Herd -70), 14. Kofi Danning (14. Tahj Minniecon -70), 11. Thomas Oar, 9. Jason Hoffman (19. Sean Rooney -46). Unused substitutes: 1. Andrew Redmayne (gk), 21. Alex Cisak (gk), 8. Aaron Mooy, 12. Nathan Elasi, 15. Sam Munro, 17. Rhyan Grant, 20. Sam Gallagher. Yellows Cards: McGowan -18, Kantarovski -52. Red Cards: McGowan -88. Czech Republic line-up: 1. Tomas Vaclik, 2. Jan Lecjaks, 3. Jan Hosek, 4. Ondrej Mazuch (c), 5. Ondrej Celustka, 6. Lukas Vacha (14. Radim Reznik -83), 8. Jan Moravek, 9. Michael Rabusic (10. Tomas Pekhart -64), 11. Jan Vosahlik, 12. Lukas Marecek, 13. Martin Zeman (17. Petr Wojnar -70). Unused substitutes: 16. Jan Sebek (gk), 21. Jakub Jakubov (gk), 7. Jan Chramosta, 15. Jakub Heidenreich, 18. Tomas Fabian, 19. Pavel Dreksa, 20. Antonin Fantis. Yellows Cards: Rabusic ‘5, Moravek -58, Vacha -77, Lecjaks -80, Mazuch -83. Red Cards: Nil.
Qantas Young Socceroos Squad FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 Egypt - 24 September-16 October 1. Andrew Redmayne (gk) (Central Coast Mariners) 2. Daniel Mullen (Adelaide United) 3. Luke DeVere (Brisbane Roar) 4. Ryan McGowan (Hearts, Scotland) 5. Matthew Jurman (Sydney FC) 6. James Holland (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands) 7. Tahj Minniecon (Gold Coast United) 8. Aaron Mooy (Bolton, England) 9. Jason Hoffman (Newcastle Jets) 10. Mitch Nichols (Brisbane Roar) 11. Thomas Oar (Brisbane Roar) 12. Nathan Elasi (Melbourne Victory) 13. Chris Herd (Aston Villa) 14. Kofi Danning (Sydney FC) 15. Sam Munro (Sydney FC) 16. Ben Kantarovski (Newcastle Jets) 17. Rhyan Grant (Sydney FC) 18. Dean Bouzanis (gk) (Liverpool, England) 19. Sean Rooney (Newcastle Jets) 20. Sam Gallagher (Manly United) 21. Alex Cisak (gk) (Leicester City, England)
Qantas Young Socceroos- World Cup Schedule 30 September v Costa Rica, 1600 local (midnight AEST) 3 October v Brazil, 2130 local (0630 AEST*) * Daylight savings kicks in on Sunday morning
FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 Egypt - Groups Group A: Egypt, Trinidad & Tobago, Paraguay, Italy? Group B: Nigeria, Venezuela, Spain, Tahiti? Group C: USA, Germany, Cameroon, Korea Republic? Group D: Ghana, Uzbekistan, England, Uruguay? Group E: Brazil, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Australia? Group F: United Arab Emirates, South Africa , Honduras , Hungary